If you’ve been watching Westworld for the past six weeks, you’ve surely become familiar with the trailers for The Young Pope, Paolo Sorrentino‘s upcoming limited series about the first American Pope (played by Jude Law) and the eccentric machinations he brings to the Vatican. It doesn’t look like an easy sell and there’s no instantly identifiable hook, which is one of the reasons why I’m so interested in checking out. The new trailer, which is full of all kinds of Jude Law weirdness, only deepens my interest.

Paolo Sorrentino wrote and directed last year’s Youth, a beautiful and moving drama starring Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel. The Great Beauty and This Must Be the Place director’s next project is The Young Pope. The miniseries, which will air on HBO, is created and directed by Sorrentino and stars Jude Law.

Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel star as best friends Fred and Mick, who go on a vacation to the Swiss Alps with Fred’s daughter Lena (Rachel Weisz). While Mick’s still plugging away at his final screenplay, Fred’s a renowned orchestra composer who’s entered retirement — but then Fred gets an invitation to perform for Queen Elizabeth II. Paul Dano and Jane Fonda also star. Watch the Youth trailer after the jump. Read More »

There’s a flood of superhero stuff today thanks to Marvel’s weekend dominance with Daredevil, the Avengers press tour, and now Ant-Man. That stuff is all great fun, but if you’re feeling like you need something to balance it all out, here’s the wonderful teaser trailer for Youth, the new film from Paolo Sorrentino (Il Divo, The Great Beauty). Whether you’ve seen and loved Sorrentino’s previous work, such as the Oscar-winning The Great Beauty, or are new to his films, this is something essential to check out.

The Youth trailer is gorgeous, and it features glimpses of a promising cast, including Michael Caine playing “a retired orchestra conductor vacationing in an Alpine resort who receives an invitation to perform for Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip.” There are also appearances from Harvey Keitel, Rachel Weisz,and Paul Dano. Read More »

There’s a new city-loving omnibus film featuring work from a crop of well-known directors and name actors, and the first footage from the project is out. In these Rio, I Love You trailers, you’ll see how the producers follow Paris, je t’aime and New York, I Love You with a bunch of new stories set in Brazil’s most internationally famous city and former capital.

Those segments feature a wide-ranging cast that includes Vincent Cassel, Rodrigo Santoro, Jason Isaacs, Ryan Kwanten, Emily Mortimer, and Harvey Keitel. (And Keitel’s Will this movie help salve the World Cup loss in Brazil? Probably not, but it will keep everyone paid and some audiences entertained. See the trailers below. Read More »

It’ll be a while yet before we find out which English-language films are up for the Oscars, but the Best Foreign Language Film category has already been narrowed down to nine contenders.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Scientists has just revealed its shortlist of nine foreign films which will be competing for five slots when the nominations are announced on January 16. Among the semifinalists are Wong Kar-wai’s The Grandmaster, the Mads Mikkelsen-starring The Hunt, and Belgium’s bluegrass romance The Broken Circle Breakdown (pictured above). Read the rest after the jump.

End of year lists can be great for highlighting stuff you may have missed, and the annual poll from UK film magazine Sight & Sound, one of the first 2013 year-end lists out of the gate, has a number of films included that are worth tracking down. The magazine polls over 100 “international critics, curators and academics,” taking a top-five list from each. The magazine’s list of top films (with some tied for a couple berths) is generated from those votes.

Documentary The Act of Killing, which follows as men responsible for genocidal killings in Indonesia confront and recreate their crimes as film scenes, took first place by a margin of five votes. Gravity and Blue is the Warmest Colour are the second and third place choices.

The full list is below, complete with trailers for each film, so you can be introduced to whatever films on the list are unfamiliar. Read More »

Trailers are an under-appreciated art form insofar that many times they’re seen as vehicles for showing footage, explaining films away, or showing their hand about what moviegoers can expect. Foreign, domestic, independent, big budget: What better way to hone your skills as a thoughtful moviegoer than by deconstructing these little pieces of advertising? This week we try and pair everything with a nice chablis, take a walk in Rome, remember VHS’ heydays, hit up the French for some comedy, and then get serious about a father who leaves his kids only to come back and find another rooster in the hen house.

There’s a lot going on in Paolo Sorrentino‘s This Must Be the Place: Sean Penn plays a washed-up former rock star named Cheyenne… who has serious issues with his dying father… who was on the hunt for a Nazi who once tortured him… so naturally Cheyenne takes it upon himself to pick up where his dad left off. Mixed reviews out of Cannes suggested that the odd combination doesn’t quite gel, but Penn’s usual dedication to the role could make the film worth watching just for his performance.

Another new trailer has dropped for the film, which shows off the stellar soundtrack by the Talking Heads and Iggy Pop. Watch it after the jump.